Tim says: D'oh!! Yes, that's it. There was an old novelty song about shirts with the line "new directions in sound as Roger solos on the electric shirt collar," and that has kept me from correctly remembering the book title.

It is a great book, based on my quick read. I've got to hit the used bookstores soon...

It comes from being really old and hanging around where the interesting people are.

Regarding books about great out-there music, had I already mentioned the '60s tome "New Directions In Sound"?

Could that be "New Directions in Music" by David Cope? The first edition was 1971. We used that as a text in a new music class I took in Santa Cruz in '75. I have the second edition, published in 1976 (it's now in its seventh edition).

David Cope is one of the hardest working men in akademia. He has written music in many styles and written many books about music. A friend of mine who studied with him at UCSC said he was an excellent teacher. When Cope hit a creative block a few years ago he wrote a series of computer programs to analyze and compose music in many styles, and of course he wrote a series of books about the software.